n to discipline, that and the number of lists and returns that
were made out. It doesn't do to rely too much on lists, and there is
such a thing as overdoing discipline.

"What happened was this. One evening, when Binny had been in the
hospital about a week, two orderlies came to his bed with a stretcher.
They told him they were going to carry him down to the mortuary and put
him into his coffin. Binny, of course, thought they were making some
new kind of joke, and laughed. But the orderlies were perfectly serious.
They said his name was on the list of those who had died during the day
and they had no choice except to obey orders and put him into a coffin.
They showed Binny the list, all nicely typed out, and there was no
mistake about it Binny's name, number, regiment, and religion were all
there.

"Binny began to get indignant. He said he wasn't dead, that anyone could
see he wasn't dead, and that it would be a barbarous thing to bury him.
The orderlies, who were very nice fellows, admitted that Binny seemed to
be alive, but they stuck to it that it was their business to carry out
their orders. Into the mortuary Binny would have to go. They tried
to console him by saying that the funeral would not be till the next
morning. But that did not cheer Binny much. In the end they took pity on
the poor fellow and said they would go away for an hour and come back.
If Binny could get the order changed they'd be very pleased to leave him
where he was. It wasn't, so they explained, any pleasure to them to put
Binny into a coffin.

"Binny did not get much chance during his hour's reprieve. The only
person who came into the ward was a V.A.D. girl, quite a nice little
girl, good-looking enough to be bullied a lot by the sister-in-charge.
Binny told her about the fix he was in, and at first she thought he
was raving and tried to soothe him down. In the end, to pacify him, I
suppose, she went and asked the orderlies about him. She had not been
out in France long, that V.A.D., and wasn't properly accustomed to
things. When she found out that what Binny had told her was true, she
got fearfully excited. She couldn't do anything herself, of course, but
she ran off to the matron as hard as she could. The matron was a bit
startled just at first, but she kept her head.

"'Tell Private Binny,' she said, 'that if he has any complaints to make
they must be made at the proper time and through the proper channels.
The C.O. goes round the hosp